A video showing French First Lady Brigitte Macron pushing her husband’s face has gone viral. The brief moment happened as President Emmanuel Macron and his wife arrived in Vietnam on May 25, 2024.
The clip shows the French President standing in the plane doorway in Hanoi when Brigitte’s hands, in red sleeves, reach out and push his face. Macron turns away briefly, then notices the cameras, smiles and waves. Later, walking down the plane stairs, Brigitte doesn’t take her husband’s offered arm.
A Joke Between Spouses
President Macron quickly explained the situation. “We are squabbling and, rather, joking with my wife,” he told reporters. He seemed frustrated that such a small moment was turning into what he called “a sort of geo-planetary catastrophe.”
The French President’s office backed his explanation, saying it was just “a moment of complicity” where the couple was “decompressing one last time before the start of the trip by horsing around.”
From Memes to Conspiracy Theories
The video sparked many reactions online. Some people made light-hearted jokes and memes about married life. French newspaper Le Parisien ran a headline asking: “Slap or ‘squabble’?”
But the clip also attracted more troubling attention. French officials noted that “pro-Russian circles” and “conspiracy theorists” quickly grabbed the footage to spread false stories about the French president.
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Part of a Larger Problem
Macron pointed out this wasn’t the first time videos of him had been misused. Recently, a crumpled tissue visible during his train journey to Kyiv was falsely labeled “a bag of cocaine” on social media.
“It’s been three weeks — people have watched videos and believe that I shared a bag of cocaine, that I had a ‘mano a mano’ with a Turkish president and that right now I’m having a fight with my wife. None of this is true,” Macron said, urging everyone to “calm down and focus on the real news.”
Mixed Media Coverage
French talk shows gave the clip significant airtime. On Europe 1 television, right-wing columnist Ivan Rioufol suggested the video showed “domestic violence against men” and claimed it revealed an “imbalance” in the relationship, saying Macron “cannot even command respect from his wife when there are cameras in front of him.”
Overshadowing Important Work
The viral moment took attention away from the actual purpose of Macron’s trip: a five-day diplomatic visit to strengthen France’s ties with Southeast Asia. Instead of focusing on diplomatic goals, headlines focused on the brief interaction between the President and First Lady.
A Relationship Under Scrutiny
The incident has brought renewed attention to the Macrons’ relationship, which has long interested the public. Their 24-year age gap and the fact they met when he was a student and she was his married teacher have made them subject to ongoing curiosity. Despite this attention, they have been married since 2007 and consistently shown a united front.
As the media buzz continued, President Macron’s message remained clear: “Everyone needs to calm down.”
